Magic of Halloween
by Zierra
Summary: Squall's tongue is suddenly loosened. Has he finally come out of his shell, or is it the magic of Halloween?
1. Chapter 1

Oh my, I haven't posted anything in ages. This piece was never meant to be a multi-chaptered ordeal, but I don't have the time or the energy to type it all in (it was originally handwritten). It's closing in on midnight and I've got appointments early in the morning. No work though, so I'll clean the remainder up and post it tomorrow. Promise!

Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. Well, I do own a few things, but nothing in this story. It all belongs to… somebody else.

**Authors note (July 16th 2009): Just revisiting this and making a few changes, from when was a bit of a bitch with spaces and stuff.**

* * *

**Halloween evening 3.45 PM **

Squall slumped back in his office chair and rubbed his temples. He'd been at the very same document for the entire week and now the headache that he'd been putting on hold came creeping up slowly from the base of his neck.

He wanted to sleep, but there were still many hours of work left and at 7pm Selphie would announce the beginning of her annual Halloween costume party. He had somehow been coerced into participating as a chaperon although he didn't give a Grats ass about how the kids were behaving. Selphie had even tried to make him wear a costume, going so far as to have a few suggested to him. But she must have realized that her pleas were futile, because she hadn't harassed him as much as he had expected.

As he sat there, the fatigue that he had tried to stave off with coffee, work, glaring, work and cussing, began to fill him slowly and with a surrendering sigh he allowed his eyes to fall shut. Within seconds, he was asleep.

ooo

**4.30 PM **

Quistis grimaced at her computer screen and then scowled. Ever since she took that mandatory computer class for staff members six months previous, she felt as if the Hyne-forsaken machines had ganged up on her to make her working hours a living hell. Squall didn't have a computer in his apartment, there was no need for her to have one either, it was bad enough with one at work. And, she honestly believed the things were cursed.

The small satisfaction that she felt in Squall's technical reluctance was smudged by the fact that he sent her handwritten notes instead and she hadn't quite gotten the hang of his rather boyish scribbles.

When the computer for the fourth time deleted her report before she'd had a chance to save it, she admitted defeat and turned the damned thing off with a sense of relief.

She glanced at the digital clock on her desk; she had about two hours to get ready for Selphie's party. Two hours she would desperately need to complete her costume. It was something she'd rather not think too much about, but she found a great deal of excitement in playing dress-up and when she put her mind to something, there was no stopping her.

She cleaned away her used office stationary and turned off her desk lamp. Her shift didn't end until 5 PM (sharp) but Squall was hopefully too engrossed in work to bother with time. He really was the poster-boy for workaholism.

She knocked rapidly and entered without waiting for confirmation. The most private she would ever catch Squall doing was picking his nose.

It was with slight surprise that she realized she had woken him up.

He focused on her with sleepy eyes and tilted his head in silent question.

"If you don't need me for anything, I'm going home." She had long ago stopped seeing Balamb Garden as a whole, where there was no "home" or "work". Now she had problems seeing the world outside of Garden, and that sometimes scared her.

Squall pushed himself upright and cleared his throat before he nodded.

"Sure." From the sound of his voice, he'd been asleep for quite a while.

"Don't forget Selphie's party tonight. We need every responsible staff member we can get."

She knew for a fact that Squall never forgot something unless he chose to, and she figured that going to a costume party probably fell in the same pocket of his mind that President Laguna's visits did.

"I won't."

"See you later, then."

She was about to close the door behind her when he called for her attention.

"In case I forget to say it later", he said while shuffling some papers together and carefully placed them in a plastic binder. He looked up and met her eyes. "Have fun tonight, Quistis."

"Eh", she said, dumbstruck. "Thanks, you too."

As she left Squall's office for her own apartment, she wondered what kind of dream she had woken the commander out of.

ooo

**5 PM **

Zell was trying on his fifth hair-do for the evening and messed it up almost immediately when he yet again failed to meet his own criteria.

He had been referred to as an angel since he was four years old and had decided (now when he was comfortable enough in his own skin) that he was entitled to some self-mockery. Seifer's suggestion to go as a chicobo had been tempting, but the costume he had tried on had been way too hot and had restricted his movements. If he was going to get into a fight wearing a satirical costume, at least he wanted to be able to defend himself.

He had of course realized that angels usually were romantically described with wavy golden-blond hair, woven out of silk. He had one out of three and he sure as hell would NEVER let Selphie, or anyone else for that matter, anywhere near him with that curler.

He stared at his reflection for a while longer, eyeing the tousled hair with a frown. There was no way Selphie would allow him his usual hairstyle, and after he'd gone to such extremes to really make it a "costume", he wouldn't ruin it by looking like himself.

So leave it down, it is.

He flattened it out with hands used to styling hair and with the assistance of a comb. He really looked ridiculous, he settled, but wasn't that the whole point, anyway?

The clothes he was going to wear lay spread out across his bed, flattened carefully so no wrinkles would ruin it. If anyone had ever seen an angel, it sure as hell hadn't worn a wrinkled robe.

Yes, it was robe. Seifer would - of course - call it a dress and taunt him for it, but Zell had a hard time making himself care. Whatever Seifer had decided to wear, he was sure he would find some future ammunition to use. And if it was one thing that the GF's never let your forget, was a good comebacks.

Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, Zell figured he had enough time left to go see Squall about that upcoming mission of his. It wasn't dangerous per se, but it wasn't entirely risk-free either and for some odd reason he had wanted to confirm that any due salaries, savings and/or insurance would go directly to his Ma. After Ultimecia, all those things somehow felt important, too many SeeD's and civilians and lost their lives and he'd seen too many left with nothing after the war. He would not let that happen to the one he loved more than anything.

Sporting his new hair-do, Zell walked briskly to the elevators. He knew by experience that one should never make a public appearance with hair you weren't used to and he would let as few people as possible see him before he adjusted to every odd strand of hair hanging in his face.

The hallway to Squall's office was dark except for the green emergency arrows along the walls and knowing it was Halloween made an excited tingle run down his spine. He was too old and too experienced in life's true horrors to be scared anymore, but any kind of potential danger - even if it was just a cadet jumping out of a dark corner - would supply him with a rush of adrenaline that he suspected he was addicted to by now.

Yellow light peeked out from underneath Squall's door and betrayed the Commander's presence.

Knocking on that door, the whole walk and the elevator ride was familiar enough to him to do it bound, blinded and gagged.

Zell pressed his thumb to the scanner next to the door handle, a precaution taken after an assassination attempt on Laguna, and watched as the bright green line scanned his thumbprint. A soft "beep" declared the procedure finished and a moment later, the door slid open.

"Hey", he said, grinning at Squall as he walked in. "You busy?"

"Not at all. What do you want?"

Zell sat down in Squall's none-too-comfy visiting chairs (he really didn't want any visitors staying longer than absolutely necessary) and managed to mask his surprise. Squall not busy?

"I just wanted to talk to you about some stuff before my mission on Monday."

"I can always send someone else, Zell. You don't have to do it. I just thought you'd be able to do it in the shortest amount of time."

"No, it's not like that, I'm-"

"Seifer's been hassling me about missions all semester, I'm sure he'd jump at the opportunity to go."

" Squall, I-"

" Imagine that, huh? Seifer jumping up and down? Almost like Selphie does when she's really excited about someth-"

Zell rocketed from the chair to lean over the desk and slammed a hand over Squall's mouth. Alarms had started to go off in his head as soon as Squall had started talking and the more he'd said, the more had gone off. By now, his entire head was ringing.

"Man, can I get a word in, Squall?"

Grey eyes that usually only shifted between seven different types of glares and scowls (some expertly combined), looked up at him in confusion.

"When I remove my hand, you'll let me finish a whole sentence, ok?"

Squall nodded.

With a close eye on the brunet, Zell sat back in his chair. "I just wanted to make sure that all my financial shit is in order. Ma gets everything if I punch out, right?"

With brows furrowed deep in concern, Squall leant forward to rest his elbows against the desk.

"Are you planning on not coming back?"

"What? Of course not! I just wanna make sure. I realize that this might not be the best time for this discussion, but I didn't wanna risk forgetting during the weekend."

"No time is a good time for a discussion like this, Zell. You have to understand that you make me worried when you say something like that."

"I… That was not my intention. It's just that I've never thought about it since they made us sign that document after passing the SeeD-exam."

"I see. Well, I can look into it by Monday, if you want."

"Yes, thanks."

"Would that be all?"

Zell followed Squall's eyes to the clock on the wall. 5.45. He still wasn't entirely done with his costume.

"Yeah, that's it."

"I guess I'll see you later then."

"Yep, if you can recognize me."

Zell stood with a smirk and Squall's verbal eruption was almost forgotten now. Almost.

"Hey, Zell?"

The blond turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

"You look good with your hair like that. Makes you look older."

It was with a wriggling feeling in his stomach that he hadn't felt since Seifer had come at him with a Gunblade and murder in his eyes, that Zell returned to his apartment.

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Please leave a review, whether you liked it or not, I'm not picky. Just don't be cruel.

Hugs, Z


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much for the reviews! I'd almost forgotten how fun it is to be acknowledged like this.

QueenAdreena: Thank you, and no. I like them too, but this won't be one of them. :)

Lucentia: I really hope you'll stick around then. Thanks for reviewing!

aegis: Yeah? Well, read and find out. :)

OoBarracuda: I went back and fixed as many as I could find. It was a spur of the moment thing and although I know I shouldn't do that, I had to get it posted. Glad you liked it and thanks for you time. Keep reading!

Darkest Desire: Squall in _any _costume would suprise me, but I have to keep him a little IC in his very OC state. :) Come on, Selphie's a good girl, she wouldn't do that! But if you can guess the culprit, I'll give you a cookie. I've taken away another of Zell's finer attributes, and I hope you'll have as much fun imagining him later on as I had, or have... Thank you!

(And what's with not being able to make the smileys I want?)

* * *

**6 PM **

Irvine smoothly slipped into the dark blue suede suit jacket and posed for Selphie who squealed excitedly.

"That looks great! Totally meow!"He grinned at her through the mirror, biting back his comment. If someone looked totally meow it was… well, him too, but mostly Selphie.

The light blue, knee long dress she wore might look innocent enough to any bystander, but Irvine had seen all that lace underneath that skirt, to give it volume and although Alice in Wonderland technically didn't have a cleavage Selphie had used her artistic licence to make some minor alterations.

Minor alterations that little Alice could only dream of having.

Besides, that blonde wig she wore left little room for discussion who she really was portraying, and it also fulfilled a few fantasies that Irvine was too much of a gentleman to ask for.

"We ready?" he asked, adjusting his collar.

"Yep, super ready!"

As they walked arm in arm to the Quad, Selphie became more exuberant for each step.

"Can you believe how many we're gonna be? I think everyone I invited are coming, plus the obligatory few that I didn't invite. Isn't it creepy that we won't be able to tell who some people are? Think about it, Irvy, this party will be like one big blind date!"

Irvine smirked. Selphie had been hanging out with him too much (or maybe just enough, depending on who you asked) to make an analogy like that.

When they arrived at the Quad Selphie's excitement reached an all time high. Her little helpers - volunteers and otherwise (Squall used it as a rather effective punishment) - had almost finished setting everything into place.

Irvine thought the place looked perfectly fine, but he must have missed some critical error, because Selphie came to a screeching halt.

"Who put that there? And why is that spotlight not pointing at the punchbowl? Can somebody please remove that table and who, for Hynes sake, authorized that huge jack-o'-lantern?"

"You did", someone muttered just on Irvine left before running off, executing one of Selphie's many orders.

"Sweetie", Irvine tried to calm. "Relax. They've been busting their asses to finish in time, give them some credit."

"But I had it perfect in my head!"

Irvine chuckled lightly and rubbed her back.

"They're not mind readers, Selph, and you can't do everything by yourself. You wouldn't have time to get dressed."

"But I drew them a picture", she whined, the fake blonde hair slightly askew. Irvine felt pity for Selphie's Festival Committee. She was an awesome party planner and she had the most creative and imaginative mind he had ever had the pleasure to come across, but she couldn't draw a picture to save her life.

Even her first map of the fastest way to her room that she had given him in the beginning of their relationship had proved to be a disaster. After trying to follow her directions, it turned out that the fastest way was to ask Zell.

"It looks fine to me, Gorgeous. Let's go spike the punch, ne?"

"Hm", Selphie scoffed and pouted. "I guess it'll have to do. And sorry, Irvine. Zell made the punch. It's already spiked."

ooo

**7.30 **

With her hair tucked neatly underneath a black wig of silky smooth and arrow straight hair, Quistis made her quiet entrance.

She had told everyone that had asked that she would arrive at 7.15 only to come fifteen minutes later. It wasn't to be fashionably late, it was to fool anyone that would be expected to wait for her. At least now she had a small chance of remaining unnoticed.

She handed her colourful and richly decorated invitation to the pirate by the door, who put it under close scrutiny.

While he did, she adjusted the thin purple veil she wore to cover her nose and mouth and took a final look at her wardrobe. The long white skirt was gold ornamented along the high slits that followed up both her legs. A gold chain - not unlike a charm bracelet she had once worn - was slung loose around her waist like a belt and it chimed exotically with each step. Her top was of an almost see-through material, leaving her shoulders and neckline bare. Around her wrists she wore big ivory bracelets. With the gold tiara on her head, she felt like a real foreign princess.

The pirate handed the invitation back and gave her a toothless grin.

"Welcome to the party, miss Trepe."

She smiled behind her veil, recognizing the voice.

"Thank you, Nida."

Once she had entered the Quad she didn't feel so special anymore. She immediately spotted Rinoa in an enormous medieval creation, standing out in its burgundy mass of what must be velvet. But she looked stunning and she wore it complete with a crown and a necklace that looked more pricey that a new fan belt for Garden.

With a blur of blue she suddenly had Selphie by her side.

"Oh my god, Quisty, you look absolutely beautiful! Who are you?"

"I suppose I'm not a real person, just… somebody."

"A breathtaking somebody, too", Irvine added and bowed. He looked ready to charm any woman within arms length, but she supposed that was the point.

"Oh, shut up, Casanova", Selphie scolded and punched him in the arm.

"Who is Rinoa?"

Selphie shrugged. "Says she's Queen Elisabeth of England, wherever that is."

"A Queen? That explains the jewellery."

"Yeah, but don't fret. They're fake!" Selphie whispered theatrically in her ear. "Come, let's have some punch, but don't be grossed out", she said matter-of-factly as she hooked her arm with Quistis'. "It's not real eyes of newt in it."

ooo

**7.45 **

Squall crept in slowly and kept along the wall while he gently tucked the invitation into his back pocket. Selphie had designed the VIP-invitations after their recipients personalities and he had decided to hang onto it, at least for awhile.

His was rather plain; silver letters on black silk that had been glued onto sturdy paper. In the upper right corner she had sowed on a button, shaped like a lions head.

He was slowly getting bored with the fact that everyone always drew that parallel to his last name, but tonight he'd made full use of it.

Stealthily sneaking around the dance floor, Squall stalked like a cheetah towards the punchbowl.

ooo

**8 PM **

Zell had successfully managed to avoid Seifer thus far, at least to his knowledge. He doubted Seifer would spot him and NOT make his presence known.

Hyne above, he was practically begging to be teased!

From what he could tell, there were only four people that showed all of their faces tonight, while others had their covered by moustaches, veils, whiskers, fake noses or something equally creative. Rinoa was brave enough to be recognized, just like Selphie and Irvine. And himself, although he figured he was in a grey zone.

He had realized, as he had made the final touches on his costume, that he looked absolutely nothing like himself without the tattoo. Selphie had almost had a heart attack when she had finally seen him, touching the left side of his face so much the black had started to appear through the make-up. Quistis had been kind enough to lend a helping hand at concealing it again.

But he had been forced to use the concealer cream over his entire face not to get a difference in color, and since it was almost white, he looked as pale as a ghost. Selphie thought he looked serene…

He was surprised at her surprise at his costume. After all, he had borrowed the halo from her.

He sipped his punch (quite literally _his_ punch) and looked around. He tried to guess who was who but after seeing Quistis' attire, he figured it was a lost cause. He would never have guessed it being her if she hadn't lectured him for putting alcohol in something minors would drink.

Someone bumped into him from behind and Zell miraculously managed not to spill the orange-red concoction on his snowy white robe.

"Sorry", he heard a deep male voice murmur before said someone wearing all red walked away. Zell sent a glare in his direction and put his costume under intense scrutiny. Once he had established he had gotten away clean, he took another sip and resumed his perimeter check. In the corner of his eye, he saw that the red man had stopped and slowly turned towards him.

Zell's natural baby blue eyes met with vicious red contacts and for a moment he was blissfully unaware.

"Chickie?" Seifer's unbelieving tone and dumbfounded frown would have made Zell howl with laughter if the situation hadn't been so un-comedic as far as he was concerned.

"Seifer?"

They eyed each other for a minute before Seifer chuckled.

"I'll be damned."

"Obviously you already are."

Seifer costume consisted of his steel-toed boots to give his step a heavy thud, red slacks and a blood-red button up shirt. For arguments sake he wore a black tie that suitably had a small devil at the base. He also had a fake goatee and topped it all with a black hat.

The taller blond could have impersonated any completely red-suited character, but the pointed tail fastened in the back of his belt and hung casually over his shoulder told him exactly who Seifer was imitating. And he made that assumption before he noticed the telltale pitchfork in his left hand.

Seifer was the devil.

"You totally played on my idea!" Zell yelled and pointed an accusing finger at Seifer.

"I had no idea what you were going as, I just followed you reasoning. If everyone thinks I'm the devil, why not prove them right?"

"And why should I believe you?" Zell was fuming and he wished he had at least brought his gloves. Not that they would have gone well with the rest of his attire. "Huh? You've been bugging me all week, trying to figure out what I'll go as."

"I saw you at the costume shop with that bird-suit. How the fuck was I supposed to know you'd go all angelic on me?"

"You asshole-"

"Stop fighting! This is a party and kids are listening."

A dark figure prowled past them, efficiently silencing them both.

Through chocolate-colored hair poked two black cat-ears. His nose was painted dark grey and on each cheek there were four whiskers drawn with eyeliner. A long, furry black tail was pinned in the back of leather pants, underneath a leopard-spotted tank top.

Seifer and Zell exchanged a bewildered look after staring at the retreating back of their interrupter.

"Squall?" they asked in unison.

TBC

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Maybe I'll leave it there. That's as close to a cliffhanger as I can get, but it'll have to do. I said I was gonna post all of it, but I'm going back on that promise. This is so much more fun!

And hopefully more fun is to come!

Please review!

Hugs, Z


	3. Chapter 3

Hi! Sorry this took me so long! But I've been trying to be friendly with customers with a boss that's been chewing my head off while my mother is going in and out of the hospital and it's really difficult to find enough peace of mind to relax in front of my computer. But I can now, and I have.

Lucentia: Hm, and I've been trying to make them shorter... On the next one I'll do better and I'm not entirely sure if it'll be the last one. If it is, it's gonna be a LONG one. Glad you liked!

OoBarracuda: I'm glad I made you laugh with this one, I've been trying really hard. Thank you so much for your help, catching those little things I'm too distracted, impatient and uneducated to find. Honestly, If I'd known it would be this good with a beta, I would have gotten over myself and found one sooner. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart! (cuddles).

Love is for Fools: Good question. But I think Squall made Commander because he can pay attention to detail, so I'm pretty sure he knows it's them. And I'm really sorry I haven't sent anything your way. I'll be faster with the next one, if you're still with me!

Lionfaq491: Well, thank you! (basks in praise) Oh, I have no doubt Zell would look good in a cat costume, if he can pull off those shorts, he can wear anything.

You've waited long enough, here goes!

* * *

**8 PM **

Selphie glared at the young female cadet that was standing just an inkling too close to Irvine when she was approached from the side. The glare faded the moment she recognized her Commander and the two characters that flanked him.

"Uh", she began, mind racing at the absurdity of the situation. "Hi, Squall."

Squall smiled and the painted whiskers curved nicely over his cheeks.

"The Quad looks great Selphie, you've done a fantastic job. Alice in Wonderland?"

She nodded dumbly and glanced at his two companions, both looking as stupefied as she felt.

Ironically, Zell was standing behind Squall's right shoulder, while Seifer hovered by his left, making them both out to be Squall's slightly bewildered conscience. They offered her nothing in terms of an explanation, so she looked back at Squall and gave him a furtive look, although the brunette seemed completely at ease with the attention. There was no denying that Squall was hot in his costume, but that was not what all the stares was about, although she doubted few had actually recognized him.

It was Squall in a costume, period.

"You went with the cat", she stammered and grinned sheepishly.

The Commander nodded and took a sip from his cup and Selphie immediately executed her patented 'Alcohol-control' that she was (at least to her knowledge) alone to master. She could determine how much a person had to drink and how much more they would be able to handle. And from what she could tell, Squall had barely sipped his punch.

"Thanks for coming", she said happily, as the last remnants of her shock rolled off. She always had a short attention span and she considered herself to be very open-minded about people, and if Squall wanted to go public in whiskers and a tail, she would support him all the way.

"No problem" Squall shrugged. "I needed a change of scenery anyway. Oh, is that pumpkin-pie?"

"Yeah", she said absently as her attention turned to Squall's oddly matching escorts and gave them a quizzical look. "Zell's Ma made it."

"Mmm, my favorite."

As soon as Squall was busy stuffing his face with pumpkin pie, Selphie gathered Zell and Seifer within whispering distance.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I have no idea", Zell answered. "I went to see him earlier and he said some rather… odd things."

Seifer interjected with a close eye on Squall's back. "He sure wasn't like this, this morning. I had a briefing with him and then he was his usual anal self. You don't suppose he's drunk, do you?"

"No!" Zell protested. "When he's drunk he gets oh-I-wish-my-life-had-turn-out-differently, not oh-let's-dress-up-like-a-cat-and-go-to-Selphie's-party. Besides," he added as an afterthought, "he's not tripping all over himself like last time he drank too much."

"Maybe we should take him to Dr Kadowaki", Seifer suggested as Squall turned to them and grinned with his mouth full of pie. "Maybe he hit his head or something?"

"Like she'd be working tonight", Zell said with a glance at the time. "She'd just tell us to let him sleep it off and come back tomorrow for aspirins."

Selphie cleared her throat to catch their attention.

"Dr Kadowaki is totally working tonight, and even if she wasn't, she'd take any chance to do a check-up on Squall. Besides, I didn't mean what was going on with him; I was talking about your costumes. How did you agree on the theme?"

Zell's eyes widened and Seifer chuckled. "We didn't. It just kinda happened."

"This is really good, Zell", Squall praised and licked his fingertips. "Your mom is an excellent cook."

"Yeah, she is. Ehm, Squall? Are you feeling ok?"

The brunet met their gazes squarely and nodded.

"Sure, I'm fine! Except…", he continued and frowned slightly. "My pants are really chafing and I have this strange rash-"

Three pairs of eyes immediately sought out each other.

"We're going to Dr Kadowaki!"

ooo

**8.15 **

"So, what seems to be the problem?" the tired looking doctor demanded to know as they entered the exam room. She barely blinked at a blonde Selphie, a tattoo-less Zell or Seifer carrying a pitchfork, but upon seeing Squall with whiskers she did a double take.

"Ah…"

"You like my costume?" When Dr Kadowaki didn't respond right away, Squall's lower lip pouted slightly. "I realize I didn't have as much time as the others but…"

"Your costume is great!", the doctor reassured and patted Squall's shoulder. "Very nice. I was just wondering why you're here to see me."

She asked the question over Squall's head at his three friends, all three of them opening their mouths to answer but Squall beat them all to it.

"Well, I've got this rash."

"Dr Kadowaki", Selphie interrupted, her voice pitched and pulled the doctor aside. "Obviously you can tell something's not completely right with Squall."

Dr Kadowaki nodded and flinched, frowned and gawked simultaneously as the Commander scolded Zell and Seifer for not bringing any more pie.

"I could run a few tests-", the doctor turned to Selphie. "He's not just drunk?"

"Barely tasted the punch. There's gotta be something else."

"Leave him to me, I'll figure it out."

"Thanks, we'll wait outside."

ooo

**9 PM**

Seifer stared blankly at the ceiling; mind a complete jumble of thoughts as he tried to make sense of tonight's events.

The shock at seeing the Almighty Leonheart's uncharacteristic behavior had made him forget completely about teasing Zell. To be honest it was almost as strange seeing Zell without that cool tattoo as it was catching Squall grinning with pieces of pumpkin between his teeth, but twice as fun.

Seifer chuckled at the memory and glanced in the direction of the usually so spunky pair sitting across the hall. Selphie's dark eyebrows almost blended with her blonde wig and Zell seemed unsure of whether to laugh or cry but on the verge of both.

When the door opened to Dr Kadowaki's exam room they all rose.

The doctor stepped into the hallway and with a final glance over her shoulder, she closed the door behind her and motioned for them to sit.

"Well?" Selphie insisted and moved restlessly in her seat.

"Physically, he's just fine. I've done a full check-up and I can't find the smallest scratch or pinprick anywhere."

"You've checked everywhere?" Seifer asked suspiciously and stared pointedly at her.

"Everywhere", she confirmed and stared pointedly back. "There's no sign of any recent trauma to his body. I must admit I've checked primarily for drugs although that sounded rather far-fetched to me. But considering his current state I had to check."

"And?"

"Nothing. All the tests came back negative. In fact, if you exclude the fact that he's acting strange, I'd say he's 100 percent, perfectly healthy and I would congratulate him, if it wasn't for the matter with the rash, of course… but that's between him and me."

"So what do we do with him?" Zell adjusted his halo. "We can't leave him on his own, can we?"

"I wouldn't recommend it, no. But he has expressed a desire to go back to your party, Miss Tilmitt, he said it felt like a waste of his valuable time dressing up if he was gonna miss the whole damned thing."

"Almost sounds like Squall."

"Almost, only those were my choice of words."

ooo

**9.30 **

"… And she gave me this ointment to apply twice a day", Squall explained, holding out the small purple tube for all of them to see. Selphie had run ahead to check that everything was still in order, despite her absence. " She's really quite professional."

"Dr Kadowaki is great", Zell agreed, remembering all the times when he'd been forced to make a pit stop in her exam rooms.

"No, I meant Selphie. The Quad has never looked better."

Zell rolled his eyes and caught Seifer doing the same. The blond knew perfectly well that once this whole thing blew over, Seifer would have filled his armory of insults and he would not be hesitant about using them.

Selphie met them just outside the Quad, nervously picking at the hem of her skirt, lifting it up quite a bit and gave them a good view of her legs. Or would have, if their minds hadn't been elsewhere.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea, bringing him back here?" she asked quietly as Squall greeted Nida with a firm handshake and complemented him on a job well done.

"I mean, if he returns to normal, he's gonna kill us for not stopping him from making an ass of himself and then he'll probably kill himself from embarrassment."

"When", Seifer said seriously. "When he returns to normal."

"Why? Do you miss him, Seif?"

"No", the taller blond growled at the shorter. "But if I hear one more detail about his damned rash, I might throw myself out a window."

"All windows are made of safety glass to prevent that kind of action", Squall informed them with the same innocence as a four-year-old. "But if you're adamant about killing yourself, try the elevator shafts. The doors can be manually overridden and it's about a hundred meters down. It's perfect."

Seifer's jaw dropped as Zell hick-upped and Selphie made a nasal squeak.

"And how do you know that?"

"Well, let's just say that I'm not the first Commander to be pushed to the brink of insanity." Squall made a sound suspiciously like a giggle. "But no one's taken the plunge yet. Except from the top balcony."

"Who?" Seifer asked despite himself.

"Cid's predecessor."

Their Commander turned abruptly and walked through the doors to the Quad. The others had no other choice but to follow.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Seifer asked.

"Are you thinking about this situation?" Zell gestured at Squall as he swayed to the music.

"Uh, yeah. What the fuck else would I be thinking about?"

Ignoring Seifer's comment, Zell turned to the buffet table and snatched a lollipop which he quickly unwrapped and stuffed in his mouth.

"No, I don't think he's lost it", he explained around his treat.

Selphie paled noticeably beside them.

"Yeah, wouldn't Dr Kadowaki or anyone have noticed something? Insanity can't be that sudden. Right?"

"Hell if I know", Seifer said with a shrug. "But we might wanna stop him before he reaches the dance floor."

Zell quickly rushed after his commander, who had almost made it all the way into the crowd. He was performing some odd little dance as he squeezed through the people and Zell was glad that no one would ever believe Squall to do such a thing, and therefore didn't think twice about him going past. The whiskers might have helped a bit.

"Squall", Zell hissed sharply in the brunette's ear as he caught him by his elbow. "No dancing. Doctors orders."

"She said that?"

"Yeah, for the rash", Zell lied as he forced a convincing smile. "Said it might get worse."

"Oh?" Squall looked tragically disappointed and Zell found himself unable to deny that pout anything. "But I really like this song."

Zell's ears finally registered the song and sighed.

"Alright, but only one dance. And I want you to remember when you're better, that I tried to stop you."

The genuinely thankful smile that Squall gave him made Zell's heart skip a few beats.

"Thanks!" And before the blond could smile back, his Commander and the son of President Laguna of Esthar, was dragging him to the centre of the dance floor by a tight grip around his wrist.

ooo

**Seconds later**

Seifer chuckled to himself at the sight. He had always found his height to come in handy at the most odd of times.

"Damn, why don't you ever have a camera when you need one?"

A bright flash temporarily blinded his left eye and as he turned to look at the source, Selphie just lowered the camera. She was standing on a chair, a smug smile on her face.

"You actually believed I wouldn't document this party for my successors? A little help down, maybe?"

TBC

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As a little afterthought, I will NEVER use the text format to upload a chapter EVER again.

Hope you liked and please review!

Hugs, Z


	4. Chapter 4

Since I can't individually thank those who so kindly reviewed and so made my day a better day, I'll just have to say thank you and hope you all know that you make my heart beat faster.

Just as a side-note, I know ferally isn't a word, but that's what you get from listening to your best friend rant on the phone about ex-boyfriends and using words be both know don't exist (some rather inventive but vulgar) while trying to edit your story. Well, thank _you _for not letting my stupid mistakes be public knowledge.

Please continue!

* * *

So one dance turned into five and while Zell had been very uncomfortable during the first three, Squall's enthusiasm was captivating and highly contagious. For someone who - when he by the off chance would attend a party- rooted himself securely by the buffet table, Squall was a decent dancer and not as embarrassing as Zell had feared.

"Squall", he called over the music, for the moment forgetting that someone else might be listening in.

"Drink!"

With a tired smile, Squall stilled and nodded. "Yeah", he agreed breathlessly and followed Zell off the dance floor.

They found Seifer and Selphie huddled together around a square silver object that Alice in Wonderland quickly hid behind her back with a totally fake innocent smile.

"Having fun?" Seifer drawled as he leered at Squall before passing a knowing wink at Zell.

"Well, we were!" the shorter blond retorted venomously and thankfully accepted the glass of punch that Squall offered without ever ceasing his glare at Seifer. He took a zip and then turned to Selphie. "Did you two come up with something?"

The two blondes (one fake and female) gave each other a quick and completely suspicious look before they vehemently shook their heads.

"Nothing that makes any sense, anyway. Has he turned anything back to normal?"

Selphie nodded towards Squall stood unmoving behind Zell.

"No, he's just tired."

"You know", Seifer interrupted. "I have an idea."

Selphie gawked and Zell frowned.

"Eh, no thank you, not interested."

"Oh, come on!" Seifer feigned hurt and grinned at Zell. "Just hear me out. My guess is that all of this happened in his office. I mean, he hasn't left that place today, has he?"

"Not according to Quistis", Selphie confirmed. "She was gone for five minutes around lunch and he was still there when she returned."

"Right", Seifer said with a sideway glance at their female companion, not really caring if Squall had tap-danced on his desk somewhere in her statement, since a simple yes or no would have been enough.

"And I know for a fact he was normal at 9 AM."

"So what's your idea?"

"Take Squall back to his office. Maybe something there can return him to normal. Hyne knows that room is depressing enough to ruin anyone's party mood."

Zell was slightly adverse to the idea. If Seifer was right and everything happened there, then maybe bringing the Commander back to his office would have

the opposite effect.

"I don't know…" he offered hesitantly, biting his lower lip.

"Maybe we should talk to Quistis", Selphie suggested. "She works with him every day and her office is just across the hall from his. If anything odd happened, than maybe she might have noticed something.

"Not that I'm entirely sure how she noticing something would help us, but do we really want more people to know about this? " Seifer dared a few freshmen cadets to approach them by the punchbowl with a mean stare as he deliberately kept his voice low.

"And here I was thinking you'd want to expose this entire thing and blow it totally out of proportion?"

"Well, I do", Seifer grinned mischievously at the thought, but after a moment it faded. "But not tonight. I've got a situation that Leonheart's promised to help me with and I doubt he'd do that if I… Hey, where did he go?"

Selphie and Zell both spun around and gasped simultaneously at the sight of a missing Squall.

"Shit!" Zell cussed. "We gotta find him."

"Oh really?"

"Shut up, Seifer! Selphie, you stay here in case he comes back. I'll go to his office, in case he overheard us. You go to the Training Centre."

"Why? You think he'd want a workout?"

"Because!…. Because I can't think of anywhere else to look right now. And if he's not there-… Fuck, just look anywhere big enough to hide a Squall, will ya?

Now move out!"

ooo

**10.15 **

Seifer came to a halt outside the Training Centre. The door was - of course - locked but Squall (if he still was such a nit-picker and always carried it around with him) had the master key. But Seifer had something equally as good; a secret passage.

ooo

**10.20 **

Zell knocked on Squall's office door with a little more force than was

necessary. He really didn't believe he'd find Squall here. Hell, the brunet resented his office, so why would he go there now when he really didn't need to?

No one - as suspected - answered his knocks and no light made its way through the crack under the door. He sighed and turned.

"His apartment", he said aloud to himself as he sped towards the elevators. "Maybe he went home?"

ooo

**10.25 **

Seifer sneezed violently when he finally emerged on the other side of the wall, crawling through the air duct above the door. It was a bitch to climb into, a bitch to crawl through and a serious bitch to come down from, since he always came out headfirst. He hadn't been forced to use this rather pesky entrance in a while now (mostly because he of late had found himself lacking the desire to break curfew and other childish rules), and although he was glad he still was the only one with the knowledge of its whereabouts, he wouldn't have complained if someone had dusted a little in there.

The glass dome of the Training Centre was a fairly new instalment, since _someone_ -he coughed guiltily- had ruined it a few years back. Seifer hadn't really cared before, and he didn't really now either, but at starry nights like this one when the reflections of water bounced off the walls it was really quite beautiful.

As he made his way through heavy vegetation while breathing humid air, the blond wondered why the hell he even bothered. Leonheart would be unarmed and dressed up like a cat. No matter what spell he had fallen under; he wouldn't be stupid enough to come in there. And then Seifer remembered that while he himself was fucking awesome with a Gun blade, he really didn't have much practice with a pitchfork. He snorted at his own idiocy and sped up towards the secret area. The so called hidden entrance had a well trampled path leading to it and he supposed they still called it Secret because the top dogs idea of a sense of humor was to pretend they'd never heard of the place.

Seifer opened the hatch with practiced ease and snickered as the well-oiled hinges allowed the door to silently open.

"Hey, Leonheart?" he called, shivering at the echo that came bouncing back. Did he really sound so… hollow? He waited a few seconds before trying again. "Commander? You in here?"

He listened hard for movement, since he doubted Squall would jump out from behind a tree with a hello and a welcome committee if he came here to sulk.

"Ok, if anyone's in here, I'm gonna go take a look around."

His boots made an ominous sound as Seifer took a sweep of the area and after finding nothing he came to the conclusion that he was all alone.

"Great", he groaned and made his way back though the hatch. "Now I have to crawl though that rat-hole again!"

ooo

**10.35 **

Squall's apartment door was locked as well, but Zell had known the brunette long enough to have the code memorized even before Squall gave it to him. He also knew that the inhabitant of this apartment had no imagination to come up with a new one, even though almost everyone knew the combination.

The door slid aside quietly and he entered a dark room, by no means deterred by that lack of light. Squall rarely bothered with lamps anyway and Zell doubted half of the bulbs even worked. The only light source was the starlit sky that showed through panorama windows. Zell flicked on the overhead lights and nearly jumped out of his robe.

Squall sat curled up in a big armchair, knees drawn up underneath his chin while one hand aimlessly ran through his hair and put it wildly on end. Zell wasn't worried that the Commander looked very much like a four-year-old boy who lost his mother, but he was slightly concerned _where_ Squall was looking like a four-year-old boy who lost his mother. That armchair had been a gift from President Laguna and ever since it had become a part of his decoration (on Selphie's recommendation) Zell had never seen Squall sit in it. He treated it like a gigantic pink elephant and would rather stand than use it. Until tonight.

"What are you doing here?"

Stupid question to ask the one whose home you had just _broken into._

"Just thinking."

"Yeah?" Zell asked cautiously. Normally he would be out on his ass in the hallway if he had caught Squall at a brooding moment. But he had to remind himself that this was not a normal situation and even though Squall may seem social and all, a guys mind was still a very sensitive topic.

Zell dimmed the lights slightly and made his way over to the sofa. "About what?" he asked as casually as he could manage.

Squall shrugged and untangled himself from his curled up position to put his feet on the coffee table.

"Nothing important. And that's very nice for a change."

"I hear ya." Zell snickered. "Sorry to interrupt."

" It's ok. I was getting lonely anyway."

Zell frowned and leant forward a little, trying to focus on Squall's eyes instead of his bootless feet.

"You get lonely?"

"Of course", Squall answered indignantly with a slight huff. "I'm not inhuman!"

His Commander turned to meet Zell's eyes but it lacked the iron walls and the barbed wire and it was quite comfortable to meet. So comfortable that Zell suddenly preferred to look at Squall's slightly worn socks.

"But that's the problem, isn't it? Most here doesn't know that."

"Yeah, guess not." Zell shifted in his seat, trying to seem calm but feeling rather antsy. "But we always thought you wanted it like that."

"I suppose I did."

"Did? Past tense?"

A small curve, there on the right side of his mouth and Zell swore he was looking at the smile the real Squall would make.

"For now, anyway."

They fell silent together, the peacefulness lulling them both into a comfortable fellowship; all the while they were watching the universe outside like a TV-show.

"Thanks, Zell."

The blond blinked at the unexpected admission.

"Anytime, baby. But… eh… What for?"

Squall shrugged.

"I don't know. Dancing with me, sitting here with me. I know this must be weird for you, but I want you to know that I haven't said anything tonight that hasn't been true."

Zell chuckled, remembering Squall's loud confession about his rash.

"Well, while we're being honest, I had no idea you could be so…entertaining."

"I couldn't. Something always held me back."

"What was it?"

"Beats me. But I took this nap this afternoon and after that…Pfft!…gone."

Zell nodded even though he didn't quite understand. Not that it mattered. Even if this change was permanent - which he began to wish more and more - he knew Squall would still be Squall and Garden would always come first.

They both jumped at the rapid knock on the door. Zell made to stand but Squall beat him to it.

A very flustered Seifer appeared in the doorway and upon seeing Zell just coming around the armchair, his vision darkened.

"Well, well. I don't know, Chickie. Maybe, just MAYBE you could've let me know you'd found him, so I wouldn't have had to take that detour in the caf and accidentally run into one of the lunch ladies who had had a little too much sherry to drink and thought I came there looking for her!" Seifer took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. "And Squall", he added. "You really need to get those elevators fixed. The doors take forever to close."

He stalked into the room, deliberately bumped into Zell on his way to the sofa and flopped down with a loud huff.

"Oh, come off it, Seifer. What would you have me do?" Zell glared back into aquamarine eyes. "Try to find you when we'd probably just run past each other? Or maybe you wanted me to call over the speakers? '_Could Seifer Almasy please report to Commander Leonhearts private apartments. We're waiting for you?_' What does it matter anyway, you came here eventually, right?"

Seifer snorted but his glared finally relented. "So, what's up?"

"We were just talking", Squall explained and made for the kitchen. "You want something, Seifer? Zell?"

"No, thanks", they responded in unison and Squall smiled as he returned to the living room empty handed.

"Is Selphie worried?" he asked bashfully, leaning his hip against the back of the armchair. "Maybe we should go back to the party?"

"Yeah", Seifer admitted. "I might have freaked her out a bit before."

ooo

**10.45 PM**

As they walked back to the party, Zell touched Squall's elbow and fell back behind Seifer. Squall took the hint and followed suit.

"I forgot to ask you before", Zell began hesitantly. "Why did you leave the party without saying anything?"

Squall coughed and even though the hallways were very poorly lit so late at night, there was no disguising the blush that crept up the brunet's cheeks.

"Ehm… Well. I might have… I wanted to see if you would come look for me."

"Listen, Squall", Zell said seriously and stopped. "Normally I might not have, since I would've thought you'd bailed to be alone. And I know you can take care of yourself and all that, but tonight is different. You're not yourself."

"Don't worry, Zell. I feel perfectly fine. But that's the issue, no?"

"Well, it can't be a bad thing if you feel fine." Zell shrugged and continued to walk. "We're just not used to you being so much like… us."

Squall snickered and scratched his neck. "I'm not saying it's bad being you, Zell. Maybe that's just not who I was."

"I can live with that. And, Squall? If you want us to come look for you in the future, let us know, ok?"

ooo

**11 PM **

"Squall?" Quistis eyed her Commander with ill-hidden fascination. When he gave her a wide grin she blushed and thank Hyne she wore the veil.

"You told her?" Zell accused as Selphie appeared by his side. Her defiant look told him that he was in no way threatening.

"You actually think I would lie to a superior officer? When she asked where Squall was I had to tell her we didn't know and that you'd gone looking for him."

"Wasn't that enough? Did you have to tell her everything?"

"You're forgetting that asking questions is my job, Lieut. Dincht." Quistis lectured. "And after seeing you three huddled together all night, I knew something was off. I just didn't guess that Squall was…" She pointed at the leopard-spotted t-shirt and trailed off. She couldn't really phrase a nice comment about Squall's choice of wardrobe for the evening, without sounding judgmental.

And then of course she realized that - being how things were - Zell, Selphie and

Seifer couldn't have found a tactful way of telling her without sounding - and being - judgmental as well.

"Well, now that you know", Seifer said, helping himself to the rests of the buffet table. " You have any suggestions?"

"About what?"

"We can't leave him like this, Quis", Zell whined. "It would totally ruin his reputation. I mean, no offence, but look at President Laguna."

"The President is awesome!", Selphie protested. "Why would Squall do a worse job because he smiles at people?"

"But Zell's got a point." The fact that it came from Seifer earned him shocked expressions that he promptly ignored. "Part of his success - besides being a pretty decent officer - is because he's got the rep of being an ice-cold son of a bitch."

He glanced at Squall munching on candy-corn. "Would any of you take him seriously?"

Quistis was inclined to agree. No matter how lovable Squall was at the moment, Balamb Garden needed its stoic Commander back.

"It's because we know him before. And so will everyone else."

"Exactly."

"I have to think about it", she said, suddenly feeling determined. "If there's a way to reverse this…change, we can't do anything about it tonight anyway. Maybe tomorrow we can go to Esthar and see what the President-"

"That won't be necessary." A slender hand was placed on her shoulder and she slowly turned.

While the others gaped like fish, Quistis hoped she maintained some dignity and if she didn't - well - she still wore the veil.

Ellone smiled brightly at all of them and waved leisurely at Squall.

"Sis?" he asked, handful of candy falling forgotten to the floor. "What are you doing here?"

TBC

* * *

Please review?

Hugs, Z


	5. Chapter 5

I'm so sorry this took so long! I don't know why, but it seemed that 2006 started off with a big mess. Problems at work, my mother getting sick (again), my gym-pass expiring and having to terminate the automatic transfer from my account, writing other stories that hold no real priority except to get them out of my head. Friends being annoying and/or overly social while my bed keeps insisting that it should collapse in the middle of the night. I'm telling you, all of the above does not make you sleep well when you finally have a chance.

I want to apologize for the comment in the previous chapter that I forgot to remove before posting. No one's said anything about it, but I'm sure you noticed it. It was long and worthy of the M-rating, which my story don't have. I sent the chapter to a friend of mine after I made some edits, and then... well, I just forgot I made that comment. I'm really sorry if someone was offended.

I also want to make a quick apology to my beta who'll probably want to kick my behind once I post this. But I really wanted to keep the Pause's and the Silence's. I'm sorry! Don't hate me...

* * *

"_Sis?" he asked, handful of candy falling forgotten to the floor. "What are you doing here?"_

Squall's sister smiled offhandedly at his question and snatched a piece of chocolate from the bowl on the table.

"Oh, nothing in particular. Just dropping by to see how you all were doing."

Exchanging glances between each other, everybody eyed Ellone with caution.

Nobody seemed sure how to hand her the news about Squall's strange predicament, and - more importantly - if they should.

"Elle", Zell began. "There's something _weird_ about Squall."

"It seems he's not quite himself at the moment. Maybe a later visit would-"

Quistis was cut short as Ellone shushed her.

"Squall, you don't mind that I talk to your friends for a moment, would you? You just stay right here and we won't be long."

Normally, when Ellone mothered him, it would have put Squall in a rather unpleasant mood as she always suspected him to run off as soon as she turned her back.

Maybe because he always _would _do that, yet now he simply stood there, slightly dumbfounded, mind you, but that went for all of them so no one really noticed.

"If you don't mind", Ellone said with a sweet smile and gestured at the balcony.

Once they were all outside and shivering in the cool autumn air, Ellone turned to face them.

"There is nothing wrong with Squall… per se." She cleared her throat and looked around. They all stood huddled together like a flock of sheep and she must have felt very uneasy under their bewildered stares.

"It's just that he's under a spell."

_Pause _

"Huh?"

"A temporary spell", she clarified.

_Silence_

"Oh, for the love of… It'll wear off by midnight, which is in about 35 minutes."

The others seemed to have lost all coherent thought and although Quistis had never been keen on admitting ignorance, she really couldn't blame them.

"How would you know this", she asked, trying not to sound needy for information.

"Because I'm the one who cast it."

_Pause._

_Shock!_

"What?" Zell was the first to break free of his awe, blond hair beginning to tangle in the wind making his hair look like ruffled feathers. "Why would you do something like that?"

Ellone held her hands out to calm the temporarily tattoo-less blond, which only caused him to shy away and Ellone to sigh heavily.

"It's not to hurt him. The spell is completely harmless. Well, sort of. And it's by no means evil! Just slightly… controversial."

"Then why did you do it?" Selphie asked incredulously.

"If you would just let me finish… You all know about Squall inability to be as carefree as you. He dwells too much, holds onto things, like memories he can barely remember. I wanted him to have at least one night, a mere few hours of being free of his demons. And I wanted you to know how much he appreciates you and what you do for him, not just referring to fieldwork. You all keep him sane - how silly that might sound - and I wanted him to express himself to you. You've deserved it. Do you still think I'm evil?"

"Of course not! But if he's under a spell…?" Selphie let her question trail off as she looked at Ellone.

"I have in no way manipulated his heart, Selphie. I've only tampered slightly with his mind. Blocking away his fear."

Quistis tried to make sense of everything but failed miserably. She sure hoped this wasn't some elaborate mutiny-theory that Squall was testing.

"How? Magic is forbidden within Garden."

Ellone smiled mischievously.

"I didn't cast it in here, I only arrived ten minutes ago. This kind of spell only affects its recipient and since Squall and I share the same blood…" She wriggled here eyebrow playfully. "And don't forget, kids. It's Halloween. Magic has a lot of perks this time of year."

"But how do you... Why can you...?" Seifer stumbled on the questions he was trying to ask. The topic he was about to broach wasn't exactly his favourite and he had never really been sure about Ellone but that might just come from her being Squall's sister.

"Why I suddenly go around casting spells on people?"

"Well... Yeah."

"It's not so sudden really. You have known about my magical abilities for a while now and both my father and I thought it would be a good idea if I would hone them a little. Minimize the risk of me accidentally doing something...disastrous."

Although she was looking at no one in particular, it seemed obvious to everyone present what she was referring to even if Seifer hadn't visibly tensed up.

"I don't know any dangerous spells, and I doubt I can find anyone who will teach me even if I wanted to learn. I'm not in any way a sorceress although some may find that hard to believe. I'm just little old Elle."

The odd reality finally settled in and they all visibly relaxed. Zell even dared to approach her, even though he still looked slightly rattled.

"So, Squall will be… back to normal soon?"

"Yep", Ellone confirmed, checking her watch. "Thirty minutes, give or take. So if there's anything you want him to say or do, now's your time. The affect will wear off slowly, but until midnight he will be very cooperative… and conversational."

ooo

**11.30**

Squall watched his friends return from the balcony. They looked dazed and when he caught Selphie's eyes and she looked about to vomit, he frowned. Something was off.

"Are you ok?" he asked as they all gathered around him. He turned to Zell. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Zell smiled faintly and patted Squall's arm.

"That's just the make-up, man. I'm fine."

One glance at an uncharacteristic brooding Seifer (he usually lacked the attention span to maintain any longer inner monologues, and he also refrained a comment on Zell's use of make-up nonetheless) and Squall concluded that he didn't believe Zell for a heartbeat.

His eyelids twitched in annoyance at being kept in the dark, but as he caught sight of Ellone's beaming smile, he relented and sighed. Someone would tell him eventually, he was sure.

ooo

"How are we gonna play this?" Seifer whispered.

Zell shook his head.

"I don't know. I feel bad about pushing for something I know he wouldn't want me to know."

"But wouldn't it make you feel better?"

Zell frowned as he observed Squall while he talked with Selphie. No doubt she was trying to extract information about how Squall's ideal party would look like (undoubtedly fishing for both compliments and information for future use) and probably coaxing a promise or two from their defenceless Commander. But he couldn't deny that the offer was tempting.

"Hell", he heard Seifer mutter somewhere above his left ear. "I'm gonna go see if he's hexed enough to admit I'm better with my Gunblade than he is."

ooo

**11.55**

It was with cautious steps that Zell approached Squall. The brunet was casually tapping his foot to the beat of the music and the display of ease made Zell relax some. Squall obviously hadn't turned back yet.

"Hey, Squall. You wanna get outta here?"

Once Squall reverted back to his old self, Zell wanted to be a pal and spare him as much humiliation as possible. It'd be bad enough remembering everything in the morning; he didn't have to come to realization at the scene of the crime.

"Ok", Squall grabbed two cups of punch on the way out and handed one to Zell as they exited the Quad.

"Did you like the party?"

Innocent questions probably were no harm on Squall's integrity.

"Oh yeah! Selphie and her committee are really creative. And this punch is really good."

"Thank you."

Squall inquisitively tilted his head and added a completely uncalled for pout. "You made it?"

"Yeah, Selphie didn't trust Irvine with the booze. Thought he'd spike it too much."

"That's a very wise decision. Selphie would be so mad if no one remembered her party in the morning."

Zell tried to fight the pull at his lips. He highly doubted anyone would forget Squall dancing, no matter how much any of them had to drink.

"Speaking of wise decisions", he added seriously. Zell had decided that he would at least get the answer to one lingering question while there was still time. It had eaten at his brain for a good week and a half now.

"That mission in Esthar… why did you pick me?"

Squall pursed his lips in thought and pondered for a moment while Zell willed the seconds to go slower.

"It's a fairly simple mission, as I suppose you've noticed."

Squall stopped and turned to face him fully.

"To be honest, I could have sent anyone. But you've been inactive for a while and the Faculty has started to look over the stats of all active Seeds. I thought it would be good for you to have another successful mission under your belt to get them off your back. And besides, I trust you can pull this off without a hitch. That way I don't have to spend any time thinking about it."

Squall coughed and looked around the hallway. "Besides, I really didn't want to send Seifer."

Zell laughed, feeling relieved at Squalls concern on his behalf. The relief soon faded to make way for alarm that Garden Faculty was examining him.

It must have shown on his face because Squall gave him a thin apologetic smile.

"It's my fault they're looking you up. I keep forgetting that we are still mercenaries and that defeating Ultimecia don't automatically earn you the right to a salary without working."

"It's alright. I just didn't… I just wanted to know why you sent me."

Squall nodded and pointed absently over Zell's shoulder.

"I suppose it was here you were taking me?"

"Yeah. Good night, Squall. See you tomorrow."

"Good night. And Zell…? Thank you for getting me out of there in time. I would be a whole lot more embarrassed if you hadn't."

Zell eyes flickered down to his watch and smiled crookedly as it showed 00.05.

"You've got nothing to be embarrassed about."

Squall grabbed the tail dragging behind him, giving it a thoughtful pull.

"Maybe not, but I'm still going to confiscate Selphie's camera in the morning. Not to mention the long conversation I'll have with my dear sister…"

"You knew? About Elle?"

Squall gave an uncommitted shrug. "A little fake blonde bird may have chirped in my ear. Unintentionally of course, and I don't think she noticed."

When Squall's door had closed behind him, Zell shook his head in disbelief.

Imagine that; Squall didn't need a spell to be forthcoming, although Zell was certain that it helped.

He turned to leave but was called back by his name.

"Zell!"

Squall's head peeked out the doorway, waving the leopard-spotted t-shirt in his hand.

"Forget that you ever saw me in this."

THE END!

* * *

As you may all have noticed, this is totally lacking in the shounen-ai department. It was written without it and it stayed that way. Now, I've had requests, and although this story won't change, I realized that; Oh my, isn't it Valentine's Day soon...? How about I get back to you on that one, eh?

You can stop screaming in despair now.

Hugs, Z


End file.
